Nearly 1150 grads waiting in talent pool
Nearly 900 registered nurse (RN) graduates — 873 — who failed to get a job match are now languishing in Te Whatu Ora’s national talent pool.
With another 271 enrolled nurse graduates in the pool also, it takes to 1144 the total backlog of nurses — both ENs and RNs — still in the work-seeking pool
They are a mix of current and earlier graduates — and reflect a growing backlog at more than double August’s numbers, when 359 grads were still waiting for jobs. That figure came hot on the heels of a “shockingly low” mid-year employment rate of less than 45 per cent for the 700-odd RN grads.
Fewer than half of the latest RN graduate ACE applicants — 800 of 1700 — have so far been matched to Te Whatu Ora jobs, Kaitiaki revealed last week. Te Whatu Ora has promised another 600 jobs for RNs within the next six months.
Te Whatu Ora national chief nurse Nadine Gray said Health New Zealand would continue supporting placements in primary and community care, and there were other opportunities with private hospitals, rural providers and aged residential care outside of the ACE matching pool.
“Health New Zealand remains committed to supporting all graduate nurses into employment, and we continue to closely monitor the number of unmatched graduates to ensure they are supported into available opportunities across the system.”
Nursing Council figures show there were 2743 nursing graduates in total in 2025 who passed their state final exams — 2404 RNs and 339 ENs.
“It’s disheartening. It’s really really sad,” Taranaki EN graduate Suz Cowley told Kaitiaki, as NZNO student leaders called for an urgent employment plan.
NZNO’s enrolled nurse section met Minister of Health Simeon Brown this month to raise concerns about graduate employment, EN workforce, scope of practice and ENs being fully utilised across sectors, chair Michelle Prattley said.
Cowley said none of her 16-strong cohort at Western Institute of Technology had so far got ENSIPP (EN-supported-into-practice) roles through Te Whatu Ora’s job-matching service ACE (advanced choice of employment). This was despite being “fresh and ready to go”.
‘We did the hard mahi and we want to go out there and make a difference.’
“We did the hard mahi and we want to go out there and make a difference, but we feel quite limited on the availability of roles,” said Cowley, who has found a part-time job but is still seeking further work.
An EN nursing leader who works at Te Whatu Ora and spoke to Kaitiaki on condition of anonymity said ENs were “an important but forgotten workforce” which was often deprioritised.
This was despite a widened scope of practice which meant they no longer had to be supervised by registered nurses (RNs) and strong cultural safety training.
NZNO student co-leader Poihaere Whare — who has an EN background herself — said the figures were “unacceptable” when more nurses were badly needed to safely staff hospitals.
She called for an urgent EN employment plan from Te Whatu Ora.
Support for graduates?
Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand national chief nurse Nadine Gray confirmed 218 graduate ENs had applied in 2025, but just 34 had gained roles “so far”.
“At Health New Zealand we remain strongly committed to supporting graduates into roles and helping them find the right place to begin their nursing careers.”
However, the latest figures show there are now 271 ENs in the talent pool — a rapidly-growing backlog combining the latest intake, mid-year’s and last year’s, Te Whatu Ora confirmed.
‘Patient safety and the holistic side of what we were taught was beautiful too.’
Last year, just 15 of 104 end-of-year EN graduates were employed on graduation — a mere 14 per cent. But over the year just over half — 99 — of 186 EN graduates who applied eventually landed Te Whatu Ora jobs, Gray said.
‘In the waka together’
Cowley said ENs brought unique skills to the nursing team and wanted to step up to help the “run-down” RNs they had seen on placements.
“They’re struggling — we’re here. We can be on the same waka together, working together as a team,” she said.
“Patient safety and the holistic side of what we were taught was beautiful too – being empathetic for every person you encounter and the cultural safety aspect of it was really really strong.”